Caskets
by Winslow Fisherman
Summary: Fox Mccloud and his team investigate an s.o.s coming from a planet, but what they find is a wrecked spaceship with no crew. However, they find something they hope will give them clues as to what happened to the owners of the craft: A group of three caskets. But when Fox, Slippy and Krystal open them aboard their ship, something happens that will make them shiver. Note-One shot.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Star Fox. Everything else is fictional. **

Caskets

I've never really told this story to anyone for certain reasons. My friends and I had a mission to investigate a distress signal coming from a planet. However, when we got there we only found this: A spaceship wreck with no crew and three caskets lying up against the craft with the beacon that had sent the s.o.s in front of them. It would become the strangest day of my life when we made the decision to bring the burial items into ours in hopes we could learn something…

* * *

"Ok Fox, they're set," Slippy says as he sets an electromagnetic breaker on each caskets' electrical locks. "In a matter of minutes these caskets will open due to the strong pull of these breaker's massive magnetic force and power of their electricity."

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Krystal asks Fox, her face is full of concern and warning that disaster may come into play.

"We need to find out where the crew is and from what I figure; these caskets may hold the answer," replies Fox Mccloud.

"But what if that's the crew in there?" the female fox whispers.

The leader of the group looks at his anxious friend. "Krystal, you need to calm down. I know these caskets are scary, but you need to pull yourself together and help figure this out."

"Three, two, one, open sesame," Slippy yells and he presses the button for the electromagnetic breakers, which short-circuit the locks. "They're opening right now Fox."

The caskets pop open, white fog fills the room and disappears because the fans are put on full blast by the leader of the group in the examination room for a few seconds to help create a clear view as to what the lot have come across before being set back to their normal pace. What's inside? Three bodies, all in space exploration costumes. There's silence for a minute, creating uncomfortable feelings for Krystal. Fox leans in to get a better look at the group in the caskets, but something happens. The strangers shoot up out of their dead beds making the leader of the investigation team fall back into his vixen friend's arms.

The trio: One is a man, another a female, the third can't be seen because of a filthy space explorer helmet. All wear astronaut suits with an emblem of a sun with small planets circling it.

"Where are we?" inquires the dirty helmet explorer, who's voice comes out to be male.

"My name is Fox Mccloud and this is my ship, what happened to you?" inquires the male fox.

The filthy helmet figure looks at his other sleepers, which look at him and turn their heads as if they don't understand the question. "What do you mean by "happened to you" Mccloud?"

"Are you from that crashed ship on this planet?" Krystal asks before cloud can say anything, which gives her the attention of the filthy helmet man. "Aren't you from the crew of that ship?"

The filthy helmet explorer is silent along with his comrades. "We are survivors, but only because we have to be."

"So you are from that ship?" Slippy asks scratching his head in confusion.

The filthy helmet figure looks at Slippy and shakes his shoulders up then down. "We are and we are not."

"Can you explain what you mean by this Mr?" Fox trails off; he's waiting for this talker to give him a name to work with.

"My name is Ithlur, Mr. Fox, or do you prefer Mccloud?" replies the filthy helmet explorer.

"Fox is fine, but what do you mean by "We are and we are not," Ithlur?" inquires the male fox.

"My team and I explore the galaxy in hopes of finding new life," Ithlur began; his attention is set on the leader of the ship. "But the life we wish to find must be intelligent and able to work with us because our leaders on our planet want someone that can't help us improve our own."

"Go on," Mccloud says to the explorer of newer beings.

"Sadly we have not found anyone worthy, or should I say sufficient enough to work with that are in different galaxies. They fail all the tests we give them, the questions we must use to make sure that they are not harmful to ours, and the words that prove themselves worthy enough to be called "Allies" in a race against time to make our world stand longer," Ithlur says as if Fox had never spoke at all.

"What sort of tests do you do? What question do you ask? And what words make you decide ally, or not?" Krystal asks; she scratches her head attempting to figure out what the star travelers are looking for in allies.

Explorer Ithlur answers calmly to the vixen in the examination room. "An example of a test we do is that we capture strange species then isolate them together in some place with a one way out that requires team work to leave. Sadly, seventy-five percent end up with either getting into fights because they don't like one another, or they end up having no hope because they can't find the way out together. As a result the groups commit suicide."

"Did you ever tell them it wasn't a test?" Krystal screams; her anger rises in how mad these other life seekers are acting.

"In wars on our planet, no one tells you how to escape when you're a prisoner with a way out that requires cooperation. You can't hate when team work is needed," Ithlur replies.

"Ithlur," Mccloud cuts in before Krystal can make another angry snap at the space explorer. "Are your questions like your tests?"

"What do you mean?" the dirty helmet man asks; he turns his head slightly as if attempting to understand the question.

"Are they stupid questions like, "What would you do if you had to go through this test again"?" Mccloud growls, his own blood boiling right up with his female fox friend.

"And let me asks something Ithlur," Slippy jumps in with his own fire burning of disgust rising up higher and higher, "Do the words you hear, are they unworthy because they don't follow what you go through on your planet? If so, then have you ever considered practical tests?"

The dirty helmet man and his group are silent, yet the look at each other as if lost as to why they're getting this behavior. "Have we not followed our leaders' orders?"

"Yes, we have, haven't we?" replies the female explorer.

"Captain, they obviously cannot comprehend our methods of finding newer races. Should we kill them before they kill us?" says the other male explorer.

"Kill us!" the Fox ship crew screams; alert rises from within this trio in the examination room.

"We have killed others that have failed, but you must remembers that they can also kill themselves. We should not let their bloods be on our hands, they can do it on their own. For now, we must go back to sleep and wait till an intelligent life comes," Ithlur tells his team.

"But captain, what if we never find an intelligent group? We've already killed/abducted many, yet we still haven't found one," replies the female explorer.

"She's right captain, and there's one other thing," says the other male explorer; his head turns to the Fox crew. "We can't get back home to report. Every ship we've had is gone."

"Everyone! Grab your guns! Now!" screams Mccloud.

All of Fox's crew pull out their guns and shoot Ithlur plus his gang. The three bodies fall back into their caskets, and slowly Mccloud takes a look at the shot up foes. He drops his gun, but why? The sight he finds makes him twitch; he doesn't get it right away but slowly the pieces fall into place for him. All the bodies reveal holes full of circuitry, now shot apart and when he lifts off the filthy mask he can get why the helmet had been like so. The head, which has the main works for Ithlur, is broken and as a result it made this man-this robot-lead a group of others like him on a dangerous/murderous rampage to not find life but end it.


End file.
